by Donna Grant
Bookshelves that had already been knocked over were now crushed, the books nothing more than dust after the two battles that raged within the holy walls.
“I don’t smell any evil,” Cole said as he picked his way through the debris.
“Me,
neither.”
Just as Gabriel was about to turn and leave, he spotted something oozing slowly off a fallen bookcase to land amid some fallen books. “Cole,” he called out as he squatted down to get a better look at the nearly clear, thick substance.
“What did you find?” Cole asked as he knelt beside Gabriel. “Well. That’s A WARRIOR’S HEART
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interesting. What do you suppose it is?”
“I don’t have any idea.” Gabriel reached out and touched it, then rubbed it between his finger and thumb. “It’s almost sticky and easily pliable.” He leaned down to sniff his fingers. “There’s no smell to it.”
Cole stood and looked around the chamber. “Whatever it is, it’s left its mark on the place.”
Gabriel rose and followed Cole’s gaze to see other spots throughout the chamber.
“The liquid is clear, so we might have overlooked it. I wonder how many other place this substance is throughout the monastery.”
“Let’s find out,” Cole said with a smile as he unhooked his double-headed war axe at his back. He palmed the massive weapon and started toward the doorway that would lead him to the chambers below.
Gabriel turned and made for the stairs that led to the floors above. He had gone about twenty steps when he encountered another puddle of the liquid. He decided to take the chance and venture on the roof to see if any of the substance was up there as well.
When he stepped out on to the roof he unsheathed his sword, preferring it over his bow for the time being. His gaze scanned the surroundings. The tree limbs were laden with snow and the forest was unusually quiet.
Out of the corner of his eye Gabriel saw movement. He spun around with his sword raised only to encounter…nothing. He could have sworn he had seen something.
He slowly lowered the sword and walked around the roof with slow, measured steps. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Someone, or something, watched him.
Suddenly, a loud whoosh sounded behind him. Gabriel spun around and blinked.
“It cannot be,” he whispered.
The evil laughter echoed around the silence of the forest. “Oh, but it is,” the gargoyle said as it hovered above him. “You didn’t honestly think you’d be rid of me with just a little shove, did you?”
“Gabriel,” Cole shouted as he ran out onto the roof, then skidded to a halt. “By the gods.”
“Be warned, Shields. Your time is at an end,” he said before he flew away.
Gabriel leaned against the side of the roof and let out a breath. “You did see it, aye?”
“Aye, I saw it,” Cole said, his mouth twisted with anger. “At least we know what we’re fighting.”
“And how to kill it,” Gabriel reminded him.
Cole laughed. “If this is all the Great Evil thinks will stop us, he’s wrong.”
Gabriel straightened and sheathed his sword. “What did you find below?”
“More of the substance. You?”
“The same. I followed it up here and that’s when I encountered the gargoyle.”
“Let’s return and tell Hugh. He and the others should have arrived at Stone Crest by now.”
Gabriel nodded and followed Cole back into the monastery and down the stairs.
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Again he felt as though someone watched him, but no matter how hard he looked, he didn’t find anyone.
He walked back into the cold and hurriedly mounted. With one last look to the skies, Gabriel whistled to his horse and set out at a run to Stone Crest.
By the time he and Cole pulled their mounts to a halt inside the bailey, Hugh, Val and Roderick were making their way towards them.
“We know what we’re fighting,” Cole said as he jumped to the ground.
Hugh nodded. “As do we.”
“I cannot believe it didn’t die the first time,” Cole continued as he walked around his horse to the other Shields.
Gabriel dismounted and patted his horse on the neck as the stable boys came to get the horses.
Val ran a hand down his face. “I never thought to see it again. We’ve never had to fight the same creature twice.”
“At least the gargoyle is easy to kill,” Cole stated.
“Gargoyle?” Hugh repeated.
Gabriel narrowed his gaze as he looked to his leader. There was something in Hugh’s tone that didn’t bode well. “Aye. The gargoyle.”
“You must be mistaken,” Val said. “It’s the Harpy that’s returned.”
“Nay,” Cole said. “I saw the gargoyle with my own eyes and heard it speak. It said that our time was running out.”
Hugh raised his hand for quiet. When they were all looking at him, he lowered his voice and said, “I’m the only one that’s seen both the gargoyle and the Harpies. I know what I saw, and it was a Harpy.”
“Be that as it may, it was the gargoyle that we saw,” Gabriel said.
Hugh nodded. “All right. Let’s compare. What I saw was a creature with wings that clanked so loudly as they beat that you could hardly hear yourself think.”
“Nay,” Cole said. “Ours had wide, thin wings.”
“The creature we saw had the face and upper body of a beautiful woman with long flaming red hair.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Our creature had a hideously shaped face with a long snout and red, beady eyes.”
Hugh cursed as he paced before them. “You describe the gargoyle, yet I know we saw the Harpy.”
“By the gods,” Val muttered. “We’re not fighting one creature, but two.
The men looked to each other, then as one turned toward the castle. They must talk privately, not in the middle of the bailey were anyone could overhear them.
Yet, they didn’t get farther than the great hall before Mina stopped Hugh.
“I must speak with you,” she called out to him.
“Can it wait?”
She hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Aye.”
Hugh gave her a small smile before he hurried up the stairs to one of the tower chambers that they used when needing to discuss something privately. It was well away from the rest of the castle, and situated so that they could hear someone coming up the A WARRIOR’S HEART
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stairs.
“What are we going to do?” Roderick asked once they were in the tower chamber.
Hugh sank onto one of the chairs, his head in his hands. “Aimery will have to be notified immediately. We’ve battled both creatures and we know how to kill them.”
“I hate to be contrary,” Gabriel said, “but I highly doubt that both creatures have come back the same as before.”
Val sighed. “Meaning they won’t be as easy to kill.”
“That’s my thought,” Gabriel said with a shrug. “It makes sense if you think that every creature we’ve battled has gotten stronger and more deadly.”
“Gabriel’s correct,” Cole said.
Hugh raised his head and steepled his hands in front of his face. “All right. We need to come up with a plan of action. Both creatures fly, which makes their attack on the castle most likely at night so we can’t see them. The Harpy we can hear coming by the clacking of her wings.”
Roderick moved to the door. “I’ll have the guards doubled and tell them to keep their eyes on the skies.”
“They’ll need to rotate shifts since we’ll require the battlements fully guarded at night as well,” Val said as he stood and followed Roderick from the tower.
Hugh sighed and leaned back against the stone wall. “We’ve battled these creatures. We know their weaknesses.”
> “Aye,” Gabriel said, sensing his leader’s worry. “The gargoyle can only attack at night, so during the day we find it and kill it as before.”
Cole nodded. “If they’re smart, which they’ve shown in the past, one will attack at night while the other attacks during the day.”
“Which would leave us being attacked constantly,” Hugh murmured. He ran a hand down his face and sighed loudly.
Gabriel lowered himself on one of the chairs. “It’s a good strategy for them. It will leave us locked in the castle for fear of leaving.”
“And we cannot chance leaving with the Chosen,” Cole said. “Our women are the key to the demise of the Great Evil. He’ll be coming for them.”
Hugh nodded slowly. “I thought I had finally found my future when I found Mina, but now that’s threatened.” His gaze moved to Cole then to Gabriel. “I cannot lose Mina.”
“You won’t,” Gabriel promised as he rose. “Go to her. I’ll make sure everything is prepared if there is an attack tonight.”
Hugh walked past him and out of the tower. Gabriel watched his leader for several moments before Cole moved beside him.
“I know how Hugh feels. Shannon is my life. Without her I’m nothing.”
Gabriel looked to his friend and saw the concern in Cole’s brown eyes. “We’re all together now. We’ll get through this as we have everything else before.”
Cole tried to smile before he walked out of the tower and down the stairs. For long moments Gabriel stayed in the tower by himself. Before, the Shields had been invincible because they had cared for no one but themselves. Gabriel couldn’t help but wonder just how different things would be now that his brothers’ were more concerned A WARRIOR’S HEART
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with the lives of their wives than the deaths of the creatures.
He turned and walked to the window, which was nothing more than an arrow slit in the stones. His gaze scanned the frozen ground of Stone Crest, hoping against hope that he would see something or find some way to save the men that were his family.
Yet, there was nothing.
Just as with his memory — blank.
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Chapter Six
Mina twiddled her thumbs as she sat before the great hearth and contemplated her new guest. She still wasn’t sure what had happened in the chamber with Danielle, but Mina was sure of one thing, she had felt the despair, loneliness and revenge.
A shadow moved near her, then leaned over her to kiss her check. She turned her head and smiled up at her husband. That’s when she saw the despondency in his beautiful brown eyes. “Hugh?”
He sighed as he took his chair beside her. “We know what we’re fighting.”
“It’s what you have wanted to know, aye?”
“Maybe.” He dropped his head back and reached for her hand. His warm fingers closed over hers and Mina felt a chill go through her.
“Hugh,
please.”
“The gargoyle is back, and so is the Harpy.”
She sucked in a breath and gaped at him. “Nay.”
He slowly nodded as he closed his eyes. “Aye, my love. Val and I saw the Harpy while Cole and Gabriel saw the gargoyle.”
“Do the others know?” She knew she must tell the other Chosen soon so everyone could prepare.
Hugh nodded. “I’m sure my men are telling them.”
Though he had said nothing, Mina knew her husband worried for their people.
They had lost so many when the harpy and gargoyle had attacked them.
She squeezed his hand. “We’ve prepared our people. Everything will be fine.”
He opened his eyes and turned his head toward her. A small smile played on his lips. “You sound so sure.”
“You aren’t the leader of the Shields for nothing, my lord,” she said with a smile.
“You’ve kept your men alive all these years, and together we’ll save our people.”
He lifted her hand and kissed it as he rubbed his thumb over her skin. “Enough of this for now. Tell me what you needed me for earlier.”
Mina took a deep breath. “We have a guest.”
“A guest?” Hugh repeated and sat forward. “Who?”
“A woman. She says she’s a traveler.”
“But,” he prompted.
Mina shrugged and rose to pace before the hearth. “When I walked her to her chamber, I caught a glimpse of something.” She wrung her hands as she searched for the right word. “It was as if I was her I felt her emotions so clearly.”
“And what were they?”
“Despair. Seclusion. Revenge.” She turned to face her husband and watched as he rose and came towards her.
“Do you think she’s here to hurt someone?”
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She shrugged. “I’m not sure. She seems pleasant, and the others really enjoyed her company. She just…seems so lonely.”
“What was her story? Why is she traveling alone?”
“She told us that her parents died when she was young and was raised by an uncle that beat her. She ran away as soon as she could and has been on her own ever since.”
“And you believe her?”
Mina chuckled. “Shannon and Elle did because they come from a time where that is possible. However, Nicole and I knew better. The possibility of a young woman such as Danielle surviving on her own on these years without something happening to her are near impossible.”
“Exactly. So, what is she hiding?” Hugh asked as he pulled her into his arms.
“She also claims she’s a peasant, but all you have to do is look at her and hear her speak to know she’s nobility.”
“Very peculiar, don’t you think?”
Mina rested her head on Hugh’s muscular chest. “It is coincidence that she arrives here when the Shields are getting ready to fight the creatures and the Chosen are trying to figure out how to destroy the evil?” She leaned her head back and looked into Hugh’s dark eyes. “I’ve always trusted your instincts. Will you talk with her yourself?”
“If it will put your mind at ease, aye. Besides, we cannot take any chances.”
Mina hugged him then rose up on her tip toes to kiss him. “She’s in the east wing.”
* * * *
Hugh stepped off the stairs and turned down the hallway that led to Danielle’s chamber. He was curious to see this woman, not because he wondered what she looked like, but because Mina had felt her emotions. He had never heard such a thing, but he wasn’t surprised by it. After being a Shield not much shocked him.
He lifted his hand and knocked on the door. “’Tis Lord Hugh. I would have a word with you, please.”
There was a soft shuffle from within and then the door opened. Hugh found himself staring at a slender woman with a wrinkled, out of fashion gown. Her blonde hair was pulled away from her face in a long plait down her back, and her hazel gaze stared into his, patiently waiting.
“You are Danielle?”
She gave a stiff nod. “I am, my lord.” She stepped aside and allowed him to enter.
Hugh cast a glance around the room and only found a black cloak that had seen too many days hanging on one of the pegs. No other items of clothing could be seen.
He stopped before the hearth and clasped his hands behind his back as he regarded her. “My wife tells me that you’re a traveler.”
She nodded. “I find it suits me.”
“How is it that you have survived as long as you have?”
“I’m quick witted, which has gotten me out of several situations that could have proven ill-fated,” she replied in a tone one would use if they were talking down to a A WARRIOR’S HEART
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servant.
Mina was right, Hugh thought. Danielle is no commoner. “Mina says you ran away from your uncle. He could be looking fo
r you.”
Danielle laughed softly. “He was always too drunk to even know I was around, my lord. I was probably gone for months before he realized I wasn’t there.”
“Any other family?”
“Nay.”
Hugh scratched his chin as he contemplated the situation. “Tell me, Danielle, what brought you to Stone Crest?”